Hundreds of thousands of disabled people will be hit simultaneously by up to six different welfare cuts, according to new research published by Demos.
Disabled people will collectively lose £28.3 billion of support by 2018 and as many as to 3.7 million people will be affected.
The study shows how cuts to a host of benefits including Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), housing benefit and the so-called 'bedroom tax' are hitting the same group of disabled people.
Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity
Scope, said:
“At the moment there's no place for disabled people in the Chancellor's aspiration nation.
“In 2013 disabled people are already struggling to pay the bills. Living costs are spiralling. Income is flat-lining. We know many are getting in debt, just to pay for essentials.
“What's the Government's response? The same group of disabled people face not just one or two cuts to their support, but in some cases three, four, five or even six cuts.
“It paints a frightening picture of the financial struggles affecting disabled people in 2013.
“On top of this the Government is suggesting capping the welfare bill in the June spending review – having already slashed billions.”
Demos said 26,600 people will lose their ESA (through changes that time limit it), DLA (through PIP reform), and having their ESA uprating capped at 1% (before they lose it).
This loss is worth £17,000 (or £3,400-a-year) to £23,000 (or £4,600-a-year) over the five years depending on when they lose their DLA (at the beginning or end of the transition to PIP).
At the same time an estimated 12,500 people who are in receipt of DLA, ESA (WRAG) and living in social housing will be hit by five cuts, losing £11,517 each (£2,303-a-year), or £481 million as a group.
At the extreme, an estimated 3,000 people will be hit by six different cuts, each losing £23,000 as a household (or £4,600 a year).
Claudia Wood, lead researcher on the project and Deputy Director of the think tank Demos, said:
“We at Demos have been investigating the impact of the cuts on disabled people since the 2010 spending review.
"The cuts and changes to benefits have kept coming since then, with the introduction of the overall benefits cap, the 1% cap on uprating and the so-called 'bedroom tax' being the latest example.
“Our research reveals that disabled people are bearing the brunt of the austerity measures, losing an estimated £28.3 billion by 2017/18. While striking, these calculations will invariably be an underestimate of the true impact of the cuts – as we opted for the most conservative estimates on the more unknown elements of reform.
“What's shocking is that the Government doesn't assess the likely combined impact of these changes – only the impact of each change individually.
"However, many disabled families are being affected by combinations of four, five and even six changes, so we're asking the Government to change tack, and start to publish cumulative impact assessments.”
Mr Hawkes said the cuts to local councils mean social care support is being rationed, leaving as many as 40% of disabled people without help to get up, get washed, get dressed and go out.
“There is an opportunity coming up in the spending review and draft care and support bill for the Government to show that it is committed to supporting disabled people by addressing the £1.2 billion funding black hole in social care for disabled people,” he said.
“We have to start looking the bigger picture. It's more than cuts to both social care and welfare. This is about the kind of country we want to live in.
“In 2013, at the very least disabled people should be able to pay the bills and live independently.”